On 31 May 2016, the European Commission together with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube unveiled a code of conduct that includes a series of commitments to combat the spread of illegal hate speech online in Europe.
The announcement states that:
the Commission and the IT Companies recognise that the spread of illegal hate speech online not only negatively affects the groups or individuals that it targets, it also negatively impacts those who speak out for freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination in our open societies and has a chilling effect on the democratic discourse on online platforms.
